Sometimes the beautiful seems irrelevant, in the face of all that is urgent. When brutality meets us at every turn of the tv channel, how can we possibly make liturgical song the center of our working lives?
Now, more than ever, the Church needs to witness to the beauty of God through the beautiful witness of its source and summit, the Mass.
God is Beauty, God in Whom only we have our hope. And it is this beauty which comes through in the human voice, well-tuned and singing the sacred texts. How can we love the Lord our God with our entire being? Through song, which unites the human mind, heart, soul, and strength, and which rises up to join the song of the angels and archangels–and the songs of martyrs, present and past.
Even in the darkness of a world gone mad–especially in the darkness–we sing with that thoroughly rational exultation that testifies to the Reality, the One who can be trusted, even if all others prove false.
Now more than ever, the Church must sing its Psalms of praise.
by night I will sing to him, praise the God of my life.
If we do not taste beauty in this life, we will despair.
I was reading the other day a spiritual writer who says that the whole purpose of our life on earth is to prepare ourselves for the eternal praises of the Lamb. If we do not acquire the "habit of worship" as befits our glorious God, we will not give to this life its proper meaning and we will not be ready for the life to come.
Our brothers who are resisting the enemy and enduring atrocities are also fighting for their way of life, their beliefs and traditions. Sacred music matters in that it is a tradition that transmits the faith and unifies believers of different generations. What is our part in resisting the enemy? Prayer, sacrifice, and preserving the beauty in traditions given to us. I think of the martyrs who went to their death singing their prayers.